Fruity Bird Feeder

This is a cheap and easy to make bird feeder for use with apples, oranges and similarly sized fruit.

The photos show the finished bird feeder. It consists of a vertical ring through which a removable bamboo skewer is fitted for holding the fruit in place. This is zip tied to a horizontal ring, which is also fitted with a (shorter) skewer to prevent the fruit from sliding or turning on the first skewer. The second skewer only needs to enter the fruit a centimeter or so.

The top of the vertical ring is fitted with an eyelet screw for hanging the feeder from a branch or similar with a piece of string or wire.

1. Two rings made from 2 cm sections of 110 mm PVC waste pipe. I used pipe with a wall thickness of 3 mm for added sturdiness.

2. Four 150 mm zip ties (you can use shorter, but then tying them will be more difficult).

3. Two bamboo/wood/plastic/metal skewers.

4. One eyelet screw.

First cut your two 20 mm sections from a piece of 110 mm waste pipe, preferably with a wall thickness of 3 mm. If you have a band saw available, this step is extremely easy. But even with a jig saw or hand saw there should be no problem.

Drill two holes in each ring opposite each other, as shown in the first picture. The holes should be a little bit larger than the thickness of the skewers. My skewers were 4 mm thick, and accordingly I used a 4.5 mm drill bit.

Drill a smaller hole in the top of the vertical ring for the eyelet screw, according to the thickness of the screw.

Next cut your skewers to size: 170 mm for the longer one, and 110 mm for the shorter one work well. Birds will welcome the protruding ends of the skewers to grab onto.

Nip off the sharp point of the skewers for your and the birds' safety.

If you want to paint your feeder, now is the time. Roughing up the surfaces of the rings with some sanding paper will help the paint adhere.

Loosely fix the two rings to each other with the zip ties as shown in the first picture. The second picture shows the result you should have now. Now adjust the rings so that the holes face in the correct direction, and tighten the zip ties. Cut off the excess lengths of zip tie.

Lastly fix the eyelet screw to the top of the feeder.

Congratulations, your feeder is finished, and can be hanged from a branch.

Birds should flock to it in no time after discovering the treat awaiting them.